REF · 006-AUTO03 / Automotive · Metal

Compressed air for the automotive and metalworking industry

Workshop and intensive line.

The automotive and metals industry consumes large volumes of compressed air for painting, pneumatic tooling, spot-welding robots, hydraulic presses and test benches. Plants run 3-shift operations and demand maximum availability, with energy efficiency tailored to constant-load profiles.

Technical challenges

What needs to be solved.

01Deliver massive continuous flow (typically 30 to 100 m³/min) with optimal energy efficiency, especially on stable-load lines.
02Guarantee air quality compliant with ISO 8573-1 class 2 to 3 in paint shops (oil, water, particles within spec).
03Keeping air quality within spec in paint shops, where oil, water and particles ruin a body panel.

CEZIUM technologies

Our technical answer.

A three-shift plant pays for its air in energy, not in purchase price. The families below target that line.

Two-stage screw

22 to 250 kW

Two compression stages with intercooling: the highest efficiency on a sustained base load, where the machine runs without interruption.

27 catalogue models

Fixed-speed screw

7.5 to 250 kW

The reference for topping up the base load, when demand is stable and known.

32 catalogue models

Refrigerated dryer (air)

0.7 to 110 m³/min

The workshop's standard refrigerant dryer: positive dew point, low consumption, enough outside a demanding paint booth.

30 catalogue models

Standards & certifications

Applicable standards.

ISO 9001CEPED

Compliances are verified case by case according to the selected model and audit scope. Complete documentation provided with each machine.

Air quality

The classes usually required

The paint booth is the hard point: oil, water and particles ruin a body panel there. The rest of the workshop lives with wider classes.

ISO 8573-1 classes commonly met at each point of use, for guidance.
Point of use	Particles	Water (dew point)	Oil
Paint booth and coating application	Classe 2	+3 °C (classe 4)	Classe 1
Robots, presses and line automation	Classe 3	+3 °C (classe 4)	Classe 2
Pneumatic tools and blow guns	Classe 4	+3 °C (classe 4)	Classe 3

FAQ

The questions we are asked

Is a two-stage compressor the right fit for a three-shift plant?

That is exactly its ground. Compressing in two stages with cooling in between takes less energy than compressing in one, and the gap grows with running hours: the more the machine runs, the larger the annual gain. On a site idle part of the week, the trade-off is worth revisiting.

What air quality should a paint booth aim for?

Stricter than the rest of the workshop, on all three contaminants at once. A paint crater costs a full rework, and the cause is almost always water or oil arriving through the network. In practice the paint line is treated separately rather than lifting quality across the whole site.

Why does working pressure weigh so much on the bill?

Every 0.1 bar cut from network pressure lightens consumption by roughly 0.6 to 0.7 %. Many sites run 1 to 2 bar above what they need, to compensate for pressure drop in the network: fixing the drop lets the setpoint come down, and it is often the fastest gain, before any machine is replaced.

Going further

Worth reading before deciding

Two-stage screw compressor: around 10% less energy than a standard screw

A two-stage screw compressor compresses air in two steps with intercooling in between, close to the theoretical isothermal cycle. Around 10% less energy than a standard screw at constant load; with a permanent magnet drive, on a variable load, the two gains combine.

How to calculate and reduce pressure drop in a compressed air network

A 1 bar pressure drop costs around 7% in energy across the whole compressed air installation. Here is how to calculate it, measure it and reduce it: pipe diameter, network layout, filters, dryer, fittings.

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